Veröffentlichungen aus dem Deutschen Bergbau-Museum Bochum

Brown coal mining played a crucial role in the GDR. It is therefore unsurprising that the issue of reusing depleted areas had been one of urgency since the founding of the GDR state. This book traces the emergence of a research network addressing this issue as well as the practical implementation of research findings, focusing on the period 1949 to the mid-1970s, the pinnacle of GDR environmental policy.

The papers in these conference proceedings reflect the complex problems in historical biography and prosopographical research in the age of the digital humanities. The spectrum of topics ranges from individual biographical research, and oral history and personal experience reports in (major) prosopographical projects, to the challenges posed by multifunctional prosopographical databases and granting access to them online.

Mining leaves various landscapes behind that have to be made arable again for use in the post-mining period. The history of recultivating these kinds of landscapes has not been a focus of previous research. The contributions in this volume delve into this research gap from different perspectives and emphasize the two German states’ differences and similarities between 1949 and 1989.

How did the German Mining Museum in Bochum, originally founded as the Technology Museum, come to acquire a collection of paintings, drawings, and sculptures alongside its other collections? This book traces the questions of the formation and historical functions of this art collection by looking at the museum’s institutional and collection history, focusing in particular on the motivations and activities of the museum's protagonists.

The special exhibition "Let Grass Grow Over It..." held at the German Mining Museum looks at central issues from German-German environmental history, focusing on the mining carried out between 1949 and 1990, and the use of land leftover from mining. It addresses three different mining categories and regions: lignite mining in Lausitz, coal mining in the Ruhr region, and the uranium ore mining carried out by SDAG Wismut in Thüringia and Saxony.

Modern mining history is still predominantly concerned with archival and written sources. Nevertheless, the potential of the objects as material culture available in museum collections for historical research has hardly been explored so far. The contributions in this volume place individual objects or groups of objects at the centre of the discussion. They deal with technical models as objects of knowledge as well as mining clothing as everyday objects or flags as objects of memory. In addition, there is a reflection on archaeological finds and their relevance for a contextualisation of mining objects beyond traditional written sources. In a narrower sense, the book aims at researchers in the field of mining and technological history as well as at those in general who are concerned with a materially based culture of remembrance.

Boom – Crisis – Heritage, these terms aptly outline the history of global coal mining after 1945. The essays collected in this volume explore this history with different emphases and questions. The range of topics also reflects this broad approach. The first section contains contributions on political, social and economic history. They address the European energy system in the globalised world of the 20th and 21st centuries as well as specific social policies in mining regions. The second section then focuses on the medialisation of mining and its legacies, also paying attention to the environmental history of mining. The anthology, which goes back to a conference of the same name at the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, thus offers a multi-faceted insight into the research field of modern mining history.

This volume presents the papers from the conference "Coal Mining in Boom and Crisis since 1945: The Ruhr Region as a Comparative Template for Processes of Transformation in Heavy Industry" held at the German Mining Museum Bochum in March 2017," inquiring into the suitability of the Ruhr mining industry that dominates the region as a comparative template for processes of transformation in heavy industry.

The lignite industrial complex Böhlen-Espenhain near Leipzig was of great significance for the autarky policies of both the "Third Reich" and the GDR. Martin Baumert comparatively examines the impact of three different political transformations (Nazi, SBZ, GDR) on the industrial complex, which was essential to each system, focusing on changes that took place in the organization of industry and labor.

This volume examines commemorative cultures and sites, processes of authenticating industrial heritage, as well as the spatial dimensions of commemorative sites in a European and international comparison. It places a focus on former mining districts.

The publication aims to establish minimum standards for small museum collections of Germany’s coal mining heritage, including the acquisition and documentation of objects. It focuses on photographic techniques, database creation, and the presentation of objects online. The guide is rounded out with a list of financial assistance options for small museums and an extensive bibliography.

The essays published in this volume, taken from a 2017 conference at the German Mining Museum in Bochum, examine mining heritage with regard to museumization, digitalization, restoration, and object research. At the same time, the volume reflects the diversity of mining’s historical legacy, which extends from associations to large museums of technology.

For the first time, the publication reveals the full dimensions of the material remembrance culture devoted to coal mining. It focuses on the museum as preserver of an objective heritage and on the objects themselves. Individual studies on technological innovations are juxtaposed against survey presentations about the museumization of coal mining. The volume is completed by a comprehensive overview of museums and collections in Germany.